Defensive magic is often overlooked in favor of more aggressive kinds of spells. Banishing, cleansing, and binding are all offensive magics, they are oriented to a specific problem and actively pursue a solution. While these are all excellent skills to learn, I find that defensive magic like warding is equally as vital.
What Is Warding?
Warding is used to create an energetic safe space, it prevents intrusive or unwanted energies from entering your space thereby lessening the amount of offensive magic that you need to perform. Think of it like the firewall on your computer, it allows only benign files onto your computer and blocks anything malicious. Casting a circle is one of the most common forms of warding, used for protecting magical work spaces, but there are many other forms of warding.
Wards are an extremely versatile form of magic, they can protect a single entity or, given enough power, they can extend over vast amounts of space to protect large buildings or even entire towns. They can be semi-permeable, meaning they selectively allow energies through, or they can be completely impermeable, allowing nothing to enter or exit. A ward can be used to keep energies out or to keep them in. Wards are only limited by the imagination and ability of the witch casting them.
Creating A Guardian Ward
Choose an object to turn into your guardian, I generally like to use something small and decorative looking so that it’s less likely that anyone will pick it up and mess with it. My house ward is a little wooden owl statuette. Start by cleansing and charging your object, then set your intention (ie, protection, perhaps from something specific). Carry your new guardian around the space that you want protected while focusing on tying the area to the guardian energetically and visualizing a barrier around the space. Set the guardian in its permanent spot and activate it, perhaps stating your intention aloud. I like to give my guardians a tie in to an energy source so they don’t weaken, generally I pull energy from the earth and just create and energy bridge between the object and the earth.
Please be aware that this sort of ward can often turn the object you’ve chosen into a sentient energy being. If this happens it’s important that you maintain a healthy relationship with it, regular physical and energetic cleaning and potentially the occasional offering can go a long way to keeping your new house guardian happy and strong.
A smaller personal sized ward can be made by simply imagining light radiating from your body, you’ll create a barrier of output energy around you that will deflect any foreign energy (this works well for empaths who have trouble with picking negative energy from those around them as well).
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Updated on August 20, 2023 by Avery Hart